GTA board to decide fate of French immersion amid ‘staffing crisis’

A GTA school board is poised to decide Tuesday night whether it will begin phasing out French immersion, citing “a French teacher staffing crisis” across Ontario and despite objections from many parents.

A committee report released earlier this month and endorsed by staff at Halton Catholic District School Board called for ending the program, even as demand has been steadily rising for French education options throughout the region.

Education Minister Mitzie Hunter has said the ministry is taking steps to rectify the French teacher shortage, including recruiting qualified French teachers from abroad and attracting French-speaking candidates to teachers’ college. (Rob Beintema / Metroland File Photo)

“We’re really, really hoping that they make the choice to reject the recommendation and put the kids first,” said Cheryl Neves, who has daughters in Grades 3 and 1 in French immersion at St. Brigid Catholic Elementary School in Georgetown.

As a graduate of French immersion herself who now teaches it in another board, Neves says she has experienced the benefits first-hand and thinks all students should have the opportunity.

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“It’s frustrating to see that neighbouring boards can make it work,” said Neves, who was one of 17 delegates to appear at a board meeting earlier this month to try to convince the board to keep the program.

“I know there are challenges,” she said. “But how is it other boards are expanding?” she added, referring to the Toronto Catholic District School Board, which added five new elementary French immersion sites this year and one high school.

Under Halton’s controversial plan, staff have called for a gradual phase-out of the program, which is in its fifth year and has 821 students enrolled at four elementary schools who started in Grade 1.

If approved, all children currently in Grades 1 to 5 would be able to continue the program through Grade 8. The extended French program, which starts in Grade 5 and has run for 30 years, will continue. It currently includes 1,623 of the board’s 34,000 students.

The staff shortage has affected the board’s ability to deliver those two programs as well as core French classes for all other students, Anna Prkacin, superintendent of education and curriculum services, said in an email.

For example, there are times when an English-speaking teacher is assigned to a French class until a qualified teacher is hired, she said.

“We believe that programming decisions may be revisited once the (French) staffing crisis has been resolved.”

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But advocates for French-language education like Betty Gormley warn the Halton Catholic board is acting too soon in an era of record-high immersion and extended French enrolment across the province.

Ending immersion “would be a travesty” in the face of rising demand, solid research on its benefits, and the education minister’s recent promise to combat teacher shortage, says Gormley, executive director of Canadian Parents for French (Ontario).

At a symposium hosted by the group last month, Hunter said the ministry’s plans include: recruiting qualified French teachers from abroad; introducing measures to attract more French-speaking candidates to teachers’ college; and a piloting program that provides financial assistance to teachers who want to boost their French qualifications.

Responding to a question from a Halton Catholic parent in the audience, Hunter said it’s important that board be aware of those steps “so they don’t make a decision that they don’t have to make.”

The 2016 annual employment survey by the Ontario College of Teachers showed full employment has become the norm for those qualified to teach French, who have been snapped up over the last three or four years and “maintain their strong competitive advantages over English-language teachers.”

It predicted boards will experience greater “teacher recruitment challenges,” partly as a result of the lower rate of graduates since teachers college was extended from one year to two years beginning in 2015-2016.

But Oakville parent Dalyce Bergeron said she doesn’t believe the board has given the program a fair shot or tried to creatively recruit, and that maintaining it as a pilot has likely deterred teachers who want security.

Bergeron, who has a son in Grade 3 in French immersion at St. Mary Catholic Elementary School and twins in kindergarten she had been planning to enroll, says they are among many families who, when forced to choose between a French or Catholic education will pull their kids from the board.

In Toronto, the Catholic board is trying to avoid putting families in that kind of dilemma despite a French immersion wait list that was in the hundreds after the application deadline early last year.

To meet steadily growing demand, the board added immersion at five elementary sites and one high school this fall, making it available at a total of 14 elementary schools and two high schools.

The board plans to provide immersion, which starts in junior kindergarten, at two more schools next fall.

Boards across Ontario are coping with demand and teacher supply in different ways, with a number reviewing their programs and making changes. The Halton public board, for example, now starts immersion in Grade 2 rather than Grade 1.

The Toronto District School Board provides French immersion to all students whose applications meet the deadline, though not necessarily in their catchment area, whereas the Peel District School Board caps French immersion to 25 per cent of students enrolled in Grade 1, chosen through random selection.